The Time War

Chapter 4

The frigid air bit at her skin and made it prickle. Color, which had already been dull from being swathed in shadow, was even more muted than before. It looked like someone had dragged their hand across a wet canvas—-the outlines of objects were smeared and blurry.

Lee's tangerine eyes didn't move, staring impassively into space as his hand, suspended in front of him, pointed the knife towards her neck.

Not daring to breathe, Alice pushed her chair back and unsteadily rose to her feet. I have to get out of here. Her throat began to sting, and her chest felt like it was being pushed inwards.

She ran towards the door, throwing it open to see the endless tenebrous corridors that appeared to only lead to darkness.

She chose the one in the center and began running, desperately looking for any sign of an exit—- a window, a door that looked different, light coming from one of the hallways. Fervently she sprinted, trying to outrun the black at the corners of her vision. Alice stumbled and she stretched her arm out in front of her, gasping when her hand grasped what felt like a rock. And some force in her—-fear, desire, or simply adrenaline—-let her pull herself up.

She clung to the rock, hearing only the sound of her frantic breaths and the thrumming of her heart.

"You must be new here."

Alice looked up, head still resting on the rock, too tired to move or to think.

"I don't get visitors that look so...you know...mortal."

Where am I?

Scarlet flowers no taller than her hand, grew for acres around her—-petals opening up towards a indigo night sky. She could tell now that she was in a river, her torso splayed on a large stone mere feet from a waterfall. A waterfall that was not moving, but suspended in time with each stray droplet frozen midair and reflecting millions of scintillating alabaster stars.

"You are mortal, right? I'm starting to think you're demimortal. It's hard to tell, sometimes."

Alice couldn't look away from the barren eye sockets. The rest of his face looked normal, albeit very angular. But to stare into his eye sockets were to stare into a void.

"Now, I have been drinking," he pressed his thumb and pointer finger together, "just a little, but has that waterfall stopped?"

Alice didn't say anything.

"Are you okay?"

Her throat stung each time she breathed. "Where am I?"

"You don't know? Like, you came here on accident?"

"Where is 'here'?" she asked again, blinking back tears. "Who are you?"

"You humans have a few words that get close. Time, fate, eternity—-"

"Time?" A crushing weight pushed down on her bones, tempting her to sink under the surface of the river.

"The thing you're swimming in. Which is stopped." He frowned. "That doesn't usually happen."

Swimming in Time? "Who are you?" Alice asked again.

"Fate works as a name. It's kinda right. I like Selvester, though. Catchy. But more importantly," Fate moved his face closer to Alice's, "who are you?"

Someone who really wants to go home. "If you are Fate, then wouldn't you know who I am?"

"I only plant the largest seeds in history, I don't really get involved with the smaller stuff. Too much work. Besides, I only work with things that are inside of Time. And you, my dear, are halfway out of it."

Alice felt like she was under thick layers of cement that were slowly pressing down and solidifying over her. Everything was sore, or it stung, or both. She was paralyzed in both lassitude and crippling pain.

Fate stood up and toppled over again immediately—-laughing in what was an all too human way for Fate to laugh. "Guess I can talk alright for how many martinis I've had but can't seem to stand up." He sighed. "Well, you better be getting home now. My sister will get mad at me if you don't leave soon. And if you come back, see if you can bring some of that mortal wine, will you? I've always wanted to try some."

And with that, Fate placed a cold hand on her forehead and pushed. Unable to resist, Alice fell back into the river. Sinking below the surface, the world a blurry watercolor and her body and mind numb, she thought that, somewhere in the distance, she could hear the sound of water starting to flow.